Printing and decorating by transfer on colored base materials



1935. o. R. HUGGINS ETAL 2,021,413

PRINTING AND DECORATING BY TRANSFER ON COLORED BASE MATERIALS FiledSept. 3, 1932 DISCHARGE AGENT WATER PROOF RESILIENT INVENTORS. OWW A.Haas/N5 Patented Nov. 1 9, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PRINTING ANDDECORATING BY TRANSFER COLORED BASE MATERIALS Owen R. Huggins and FosterDee Snell, Brooklyn,

N. Y., assignors Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y.,

to Decorative Development, a corporation of Delaware ApplicationSeptember 3, 1932, Serial No. 631,730

13 Claims.

5 ored base materials and to methods of printing designs in whole andhalf tones on base materials.

The application of dyestuffs by printing or otherwise onto alreadycolored surfaces of fibrous or other absorbent material hasfbeen found'objectionable because of the dulling effect of the base coloring on theappearance of the applied dyes. Up to the presenttime, it has beenimpossible to obtain sharp colored superimposed dyed designs and wheredifferently colored materials have been treated, the newly dyed portionshave appeared in different shades over the different base colors.

This is overcome in the present method of whole tone printing by the useof a base or background color which is susceptible to the bleachingaction of a chosen discharge or bleaching agent. This discharge agent ismixed with the dye stuffs of the printed on colors, which are of coursenot susceptible to the action of the discharge agent. This accomplishesin one operation, the bleaching of the background color and dyeing withthe printed on colors. While this procedure has been found satisfactoryin whole tone printing, obviously it is not applicable to the printingof half tones, as the half tones, consisting of minute dots of color,depend on a white background for their true optical effect. Such aprocedure as outlined above would result in a half tone or dot patterninterspersed with, or with a background of the original background colorinstead of white.

Furthermore where the printing surface is what is known as gravureetching or in other words where the variation in tone depends upon thedepth of the etching and consequently the volume of color carried on theetching and therefore applied to the textile it is not possible to carrysufl'icient discharge material directly in the dye ink mixture to obtainthe complete clean discharge on medium and heavy weight materials. Hereagain the procedure outlined above will give clean and completedischarge so as to allow for clean and brilliant tints or half tones.

The particular object of this invention is to provide a process whicheliminates the above enumerated difficulties and provides a processwhereby half tone mono-color or multi-color designs may be applied tocolored base materials.

Another object of this invention is to provide a transfer agent composedof finely divided discharge agent, a binder and a suitable vehicle to beused for the printing of a particular portion of a colored material in adesign for the purpose of changing the color therein, or of reducing thecolor, if the same is not susceptible to complete 1 discharge.

A further object of this invention is to provide a process whereby colormay be discharged from a base material by contacting the same with atransfer sheet having applied thereon a solid area of discharge materialand by liberating the discharge material through the use of a suitableliquid or other agent which may be carried by the base material or laterapplied thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide for th simultaneousprinting of a discharge material and a dyestuff on a base material froma transfer sheet. 7

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear from thefollowing description of a preferred form and embodiment thereof, theprocess set forth being illustrative and not limitative as to the scopeof the present invention.

Broadly the process of one feature of the present invention comprisesprinting solid areas of a discharge agent in design'upon a transfersheet and applying said transfer sheet to a colored base material in thepresence of a liquid adapted to react with or dissolve the dischargeagent and the binder therefore to set free an active bleaching agentwhich discharges the color in a design on the base material.

In accordance with the present invention and constituting anotherfeature thereof, the dyestufl and the discharge agent are applied to thebase material simultaneously. This is effected by applying to thetransfer sheet in the first instance both the dye and the dischargeagent, either in admixture or successively in either order. The addeddyestufi in these cases obviously should 40 be one which is stabletoward the discharge agent.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, half tonedesigns are produced on base materials. The, half tone design 45 itselfis obtained upon a printing surface, either a plate or a cylinder byphoto-mechanical reproduction, as by Rotogravure, lithogravure,photo-engraving or the like. The thus created printing surface is thenused to accomplished the printing of the. design on the transfer sheet.

The inks used in such printing are of course dye inks having asprincipal contents dye stuffs not susceptible to a subsequentlyuseddischarge agent, a binder and a vehicle.

applied on the transfer sheet.

The discharge agent is then printed over the half tone design areas, ina solid area coinciding as to its boundaries with the half tone areas.The thus prepared transfer sheet is then contacted with the basematerial in the manner as hereinafter described.

The printing and transfer of such design may be carried out by anydesired method although we prefer to use the particular method andapparatus as set forth more completely in an application for UnitedStates Letters Patent of Alfred 'B. Poschel, Serial No. 560,245, filedAugust 29, 1931.

In that application, a process is described in which a transfer sheet iscoated with a film of a carrier suitable for dyestuff which is insolublein water, alcohol, oil and similar dye solvents, and which is resilientdue to a preferred rubber content, tacky to touch. While other transfersheets can be used, this particular one has many important advantagesnot possessed by others.

The drawing diagrammatically illustrates a preferred form of embodimentof my apparatus in which,

Fig. 1 is a partial plan view with applied design, and

Fig. 2 is a section taken the lines 2-2 of Fig. l.

In the practice of the present invention, we propose the use of adischarge agent suitable for application to any of the usual forms oftransfer sheets lllrwhether of the continuous web type, the sheet typeor of any other type. 1

The discharge agent I2 is applied to the transfer sheet-in the form of asuspension in a liquid vehicle having also dissolved or dispersedtherein a binder adapted to form a film with the discharge agent afterapplication of the same to the transfer sheet and upon evaporation ofthe liquid vehicle. The liquid vehicle is preferably quite volatile toinsure quick drying of the film. Solvents such as alcohol, benzol andother hydrocarbons are quite satisfactory. The particular solvent mustbe one which is inert with respect to the discharge agent used.

The binder is a material which is soluble or readily dispersable in theparticular vehicle employed as well as in the liquid or other agent usedto render the discharge agent in active condition. The discharge agent,binder, and vehicle mixture is hereinafter referred to as a transferagent.

The transfer agent is rectly over the printing dyestuffs l4 previouslyWhen so applied, the printing of the new dyestuffs'on the base materialmay take place at substantially the same time that the color of the basematerial is being discharged by the liberation of the dischargematerial. It is essential in such application to use solvents for thedischarge. agent and the binder thereof that will not affect theprinting dyestuffs in such manner as to cause them to run or smudge, butwhich is a solvent for the dyestuffs and the binder thereof.

It is to be understood that during the application of the transfer sheetbearing the discharge agent and the dyestuffs to the base material, thata solvent which will liberate the bleaching action of the dischargeagent, as well as solvents for the transfer dyestufis, must be present.This may be accomplished by the use of'a solvent which will accomplishboth purposes, or by a mixture of suitable solvents, or by the alternateintroduction in any order of two or of a transfer sheet substantiallyalong preferably applied diused in conjunction with or in substitutionfor, 5

such solventsto insure a complete liberation of the discharge agent.

I have found that with water soluble dyes, a

discharge agent composed of commercial sodium hydrosulphite isparticularly suitable. Such a 10 discharge agent is both soluble inwater which may be used .during the transfer to the base material toliberate the discharge agent, and insoluble in alcohol which may be'used as the vehicle in printing the discharge agent on the 15 transfersheet.

One formula found to be successful as the transfer agent, consists inapproximately 50% sodium hydrosulphite, 5% soap and 45% alcohol. Theseproportions may vary within wide ranges 20 depending on mechanical orother conditions. This transfer agent is printed on the transfer sheetin such manner as to cover the area of the dye design. The base materialmay be treated with the solvent or agent directly or by, indirect 25application as by use of a moistened absorbent sheet therebeneath, sothat when pressure is brought to bear on the base material, put face toface with the transfer sheet, the coloring of the base material isdischarged at the point of 3(- design. This procedure will leave a whitebackground, it being understood that the dyestuffs used to color thebase material are susceptible to the bleaching action of the dischargeagent.

If the transfer agent has been applied over, an under or together withthe previously applied dyestuffs on the transfer sheet, the printing ofthe new dyestuff on the base material takes place almost immediately.The discharge agent has no effect on the new dyestuffs and the colors 40are sharp and clear.

With different types of dye, it may be necessary to use other forms ofdischarge agents. Additional discharge agents suitable in the instantprocess include other sulphites in the al- 45 kaline class, andchromates, chlorates, nitrates, nitrites, stannous chloride and stannousoxide in the acid or neutral class. The binder as before mentioned, issoluble in at least two different solvents, one of which will notliberate the discharge agent during the printing of the discharge agenton the transfer sheet.

The binder of the discharge agent, and the discharge agent must remainpermanently soluble, so that the transfer step may be accomplished evenlong after the printing of the transfer sheet.

In transferring the discharge agent alone or the dye and the dischargeagent from the transfer sheet, it is usually sufficient to use only 60pressure, it being understood however, that the solvent or otherd'scharge liberating agent has been applied in any suitable manner. Heatmay or may not be used, as desired.

The vehicle for the discharge agent and that 65 for dyestuffs applied tothe transfer sheet may or may not be the same. In the present example,the vehicle for the dyestuff is water while the vehicle for thedischarge agent is alcohol. The particular vehicle used obviously 70depends upon the nature of dyestuff and of the discharge agent.

Where a resilient support or carrier is applied on the transfer sheetfor supporting the dyes and/or the discharge agent, the resultingclarity of discharge and printing is greatly enhanced because of themore faithful following of the design on the base material. Thedischarge agent may react fully to the solvent or other agent during thetransfer operation. If, however, a more complete discharge is desired,the base material may be passed through a suitable hot bath or othertreatment to bring about the desired results.

An alternate method of practising this invention, comprises printing thedesign on the transfer sheet, the discharge agent being mixed thoroughlywith the printing dyestuffs and a binder in an inert volatile liquidvehicle, and subsequently transferring the design to a base materialcolored with dyestuffs susceptible to the discharge agent in thepresence of a solvent for the printing dyestufi and a liberating agentfor the discharge agent.

A further method of practising my invention, comprises the. abovedescribed procedure when the desgn is printed as by photo-mechanicalmeans in a dot or line formation and a further printing on the transfersheet of a solid area of discharge agent adapted to coincide at itsboundaries with the dot or line areas. It is also possible, whereregistry of designs can be obtained, to separately discharge the basecolor in the de- 5 gn area and to subsequently print the design from anysuitable source such as the transfer described in the application of A.B. Poschel heretofore mentioned. This would require a removal of thedischarge agent applying material and under some operating conditionssuperior results may be obtained.

While we have described a preferred embodiment of our invention, we areaware that other substances having the necessary properties hereinbeforedescribed may be used and we therefore desire a broad interpretation ofour invention limited only by the scope and spirit of the descriptionherein and of the claims appended hereto.

We claim:'

. 1. The process of printing designs on colored base materialscomprising applying to a transfer sheet a half tone design in dye, saiddesign being produced through the use of a photo-mechanicalreproduction, applying to said sheet over the areas covered by said dyea' solid area of discharge agent, contacting said sheet under pressureagainst the base material, in the presence of an agent adapted to causesaid discharge agent to become active to bleach out the color inportions of said base material and an agent adapted to carry the dyefrom said transfer sheet to said base material.

2. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said discharge agentis sodium hydrosulphite.

Y 3. The process in accordance with claim 1' wherein said dischargeagent is held in a film on said transfer sheet by a binder composed of asoap which'is soluble in water and in a nonaqueous solvent with whichthe discharge agent does not react.

4. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein the face of saidtransfer sheet is composed of a resilient material insoluble in andimpermeable to the agent employed to liberate the discharge agent and tocarry the dye into the base material.

5. The process of printing half tone designs on colored materialcomprising, applying a solid discharge agent to the areas of a. transfersheet which are coincident with the half tone design, contacting saidsheet with the colored base material under pressure in the presence ofan agent adapted to liberate the discharge agent, and discharge thecolor of the base material throughout 5 the coincident areas, removingsaid sheet and printing into the areas of said base material from whichthe color has been removed a half tone design produced through the useof photomechanical reproduction. l0

6. The process of printing designs on colored base materials as claimedin claim 1 in which a further step of treatment includes the applicationof an agent to complete the liberation of the discharge agent. to

7. A transfer sheet for substituting half tone designs in whole tonedischarge areas on a base material which comprises a resilientinsoluble, im permeable and stable support having a half tone design ofdyestuff thereon, and a solid full tone 20 layer of discharge agentconforming to the,out line of the half tone design, said discharge agentbeing on top and a permanently soluble binder for said discharge agent.

8. A transfer sheet, comprising a waterproof 25 resilient support havingprinted thereon a multicolor half tone design, a solid layer dischargeagent of finely divided sodium hydrosulphite conforming to the outlineof the design and a water soluble binder for said discharge agent, saidhalf 30 tone design being releasable in the presence of water.

9. The process of half tone color printing on an already colored basematerial by transfer which comprises applying a photomechanically repro-$5 duced half tone design color to a transfer sheet, subsequentlyapplying a full tone discharge agent conforming to the design on thetransfer sheet, applying an activating agent to said base material toactivate the discharge agent to remove color 40 from the base materialand applying a transfer agent to said base material to transfer thedyestuif of said color design from said transfer sheet to said basematerial and simultaneously pressing said sheet against the basematerial. 45

10. The process of half tone color printing on an already colored basematerial by transfer which comprises applying a photomechanicallyreproduced half tone design color to a transfer sheet, subsequentlyapplying a full tone discharge 50 agent conforming to the design on thetransfer sheet, applying an activating agent to said base material toactivate the discharge agent to remove color from the base material,applying a transfer agent to said base material to transfer 55 thedyestufi of said color design from said transfer sheet to said basematerial, simultaneously pressing said sheet against the base materialand applying an agent to complete the liberation m of the dischargeagent.

11. The method of printing half tone designs on colored base materialswhich comprises the steps of discharging the color from a predeterminedarea of the base material and simulta- M neously applying a half tonecolor design to the discharged area, said color discharge and half tonedesign being carried on a transfer sheet, contacting said base materialunder pressure in the presence of a solvent for the dyestuif of said 7color design which solvent is also one adapted to liberate the dischargeagent and make the same active.

a 12. A transfer sheet for printing half tone designs on a colored basematerial by discharging 15 whole tone discharge areas on the basematerial which comprises an initial supporting portion which isinsoluble, impermeable and stable, an intermediate half tone design of awater soluble dye and a solid full tone layer of commercial sodiumhydrosulphite, soap and alcohol, said soap constituting approximately 5%of the design coating and the alcohol constituting approximately 45% ofthe design coating, said transfer sheet under pressure adapted to applyhalfiaone colors shaded from a colorless backgroimd-to the material tobe printed.

13. The process of printing halt tone designs on a colored base materialwhich comprises the steps of discharging solid color areas from saidbase material, such areas being coincident with a halt tone design to beapplied thereto, and printing said discharged area with a half tonedesign produced through the use of photo-mechancial reproduction, saiddischarging step and printing step being accomplished under pressure.

OWEN R. HUGGINS. FOSTER DEE SNELL.

